Allenstein OctaPC(8-core) and Quadzilla(4-core) *OS Update

[Shan]

Shane,
I'm amazed that it took you this long to get a stable system with the AMD/PTLE combo. Must have been all that messing around with overclocking in the past that created the unstability. I've had a stable system ever since building my first AMD/PTLE machine but then again it was on 5.3.

I have yet to overclock a system. Matt P and Powerjoe were the OC guys. But the main thing to add is just that we now have a ton of computer power and dont need to worry about the common messages that use to pop up when you tax your system. 5.01 was good but we had nothing at all on the PC. 5.3 was one of the best. 6.1 was a heep of crap. Every version of 6.1 in existance should be collected, put in a rocket, and sent straight into the sun. 6.7 and 6.9 were okay. But 7.1 on a Quad is the ultimate at this point in time.

Hey did you get a chance to check out this on the Mac side?

Yes.

Shane

[gwattaloopy1]

hello everybody. i have just ordered all of my parts to build a quad like shans. i am one of the holdouts on the digi 001 still running 5.3.1. i want to thank allen for all of his hard work and dedication on the best pc thread. i built my first amd xp2200 3 or 4 years ago and it is still running rock solid in my busy little studio. a year or two later i built an xp 2500 with digi 001 to have a back up/ location recorder and it has performed flawlessly. i was tempted many times to upgrade but i never did. i watched everybody suffer from 6.0 to 6.4 where the digi 001 was left. i read all of the early 002r threads about the difference between 001 and 002r not being worth the cost, firewire not being as good as pci, power harness, etc. i am now finally tempted by the music production bundle, the factory bundle and the new enhancements of 7.??. so i am kind of viewing this as a software upgrade rather than a hardware upgrade. i am very excited and have ordered a new 002r with the factroy bundle, the music production toolkit and a brand new supercomputer...... the quadzilla. thanks again to allen and to shan and all of the guys on the quad thread. i cant wait. quad on!!!!!!

[Shan]

hello everybody. i have just ordered all of my parts to build a quad like shans. i am one of the holdouts on the digi 001 still running 5.3.1.

You'll be very impressed making the leap from 5.3 to 7.1 on the quad. 5.3 was a good release back in the day

Shane

[Allen Hallada]

You'll be very impressed making the leap from 5.3 to 7.1 on the quad. 5.3 was a good release back in the day

Shane

Yep,
I held out too for three years and decided stability was more important than the added features. Just got 7.1 in the mail this week along with Logic Pro 7.2. Glad to see not everyone jumps on the marketing hype around here. Enjoy your new Quad and thanks for the great words.

Allen

[gwattaloopy1]

stability is a huge issue when you have paying customers. 5.3.1 has been great with the athlon/asus combination. i always said if it aint broke, dont fix it. i was gonna run this thing till the wheels fall off, but alas, i am a gearslut, and after reading the quad thread, temptation got the best of me. i am still a little skeptical of leaving such a great system. i do mostly live bands and usually record all 18 inputs at once with a 128 buffer setting. everything works so well. i just want to make sure i will not have any problems with the 002r and the quadzilla. also, does it matter if you use xp home or pro? when i built my last 2 allenstien's, i think you guys were recomending xp home, which i still have my copy of. i can get pro if needed. i am also excited about my raptor 10,000 rpm drives. i got a 150 for my audio and the 74 for the system. they were out of the smaller drive. also the 150 has 16mb of cache and the 74 only has 8, does it make a difference? can i install bfd and all my samples on the system drive or should i get a third drive for that? can the third drive be a 7200? hope i'm not asking too many questions. thanks in advance. looking forward to getting it up and running. ivan.

[Shan]

stability is a huge issue when you have paying customers.

Yep. And my quad has held up. At this point I'm not changing one thing. The quad and PT 7.1cs6 works rock solid. That's where I stay.

does it matter if you use xp home or pro?

XP Pro SP2

i am also excited about my raptor 10,000 rpm drives. i got a 150 for my audio and the 74 for the system. they were out of the smaller drive. also the 150 has 16mb of cache and the 74 only has 8, does it make a difference?

No. You will only see a difference if you have about 120 tracks streaming with a ton of Xfades etc. I have been working on some huge over the top productions. The Raptors are solid.

can i install bfd and all my samples on the system drive or should i get a third drive for that? can the third drive be a 7200?

Put the BFD samples on your Raptor audio drive. You wont have any problems. I have left earlier comments in this thread with some crazy numbers of over the top sessions I have been working on. You wont have a problem.

But yes, you can also use a third drive. Yes, it can be 7200 SATA or ATA.


Quad on.

Shane

[gwattaloopy1]

thanks a million. i'm still waiting for the case and the mobo.
i'll post my results here asap. ivan.

[rpowell]

I did my first paying session with my new Quad/002 combo last night. This is moving from an ADAT/Mackie d8b system that I was very succesful with and knew my way around inside & out.

I have to say that, even as a relatively inexperienced PT operator (I have done occasional 001 and HD sessions at other studios), I was at least as productive last night as I was with the old system, and could do things a lot faster and more intuitively such as cut/paste choruses, triple tracking vocals, etc. No crashes, there was one time between verses where there was a buffer overload, but I went from 128 to 256 and it went away immediately (complex mix with several auxes going). And I haven't really tweaked anything on the PC yet. Quad and 7.1 works for me.

RP

[Kris75]

Hey, check this thread out

[Obsidian Dragon]

Just out of curiosity, I see you all having so much fun with (Quadzilla's) two dual core AMD Opterons that I want to ask, is there also a mobo for two Pentium D processors. I know that AMD is better all around and all but inquiring minds want to know. If so, has anyone here attempted this?

I didn't find any such mobo at my local Fry's and was wonder if I'm wasting my time looking for something that doesn't exist. The dual core AMD Opterons are back ordered there for now. They carry the ASUS K8N-DL mobo but not the Tyan Tiger K8WE mobo.

What is the greatest performance and stability benefit due to?:
A great motherboard
The dual core processors
2 processors on one motherboard
Opterons over Athlons
The memory (you guys use high end memory modules that cost a lot more than the garden variety.)
PCI express (or is this only for hybrid systems)
The great cooling systems

Or is it really the combination of all the above?

What is the difference between AMD 265 and 865 or AMD 270 and 870 (What about all those other models like AMD 185, 285 and 885?)

I have PTLE 7.1CS8 and I'm planning my own Quadzilla. I may need to do this in steps due to budget constraints.